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Trisha Yearwood's tailgate party: 'Garth’s in the stadium and I’m in the parking lot'

Trisha Yearwood holds her two Grammy Awards February, 25, 1998, in New York. Yearwood won for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. MATT CAMPBELL, AFP/Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood holds her two Grammy Awards February, 25, 1998, in New York. Yearwood won for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals.
MATT CAMPBELL, AFP/Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood rehearses for the 37th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards May 21, 2002 at Universal Amplitheatre in Los Angeles, CA. Vince Bucci, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood rehearses for the 37th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards May 21, 2002 at Universal Amplitheatre in Los Angeles, CA.
Vince Bucci, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood performs onstage during the 37th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards May 22, 2002 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, CA. Vince Bucci, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood performs onstage during the 37th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards May 22, 2002 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, CA.
Vince Bucci, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood performs at the "Stormy Weather 2002" concert at the Wiltern Theatre on November 13, 2002 in Los Angeles, California. Robert Mora, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood performs at the "Stormy Weather 2002" concert at the Wiltern Theatre on November 13, 2002 in Los Angeles, California.
Robert Mora, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood sings the National Anthem prior to the start of the game between the Florida Marlins and the Atlanta Braves on July 23, 2003 at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia. Jamie Squire, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood sings the National Anthem prior to the start of the game between the Florida Marlins and the Atlanta Braves on July 23, 2003 at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jamie Squire, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood performs during the Toyota Concert Series on the "Today" show September 2, 2005 in New York City. Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood performs during the Toyota Concert Series on the "Today" show September 2, 2005 in New York City.
Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images

Charley Pride, Trisha Yearwood, Bill Anderson and Ricky Skaggs perform during a taping of the "Grand Ole Opry" at Carnegie Hall November 14, 2005 in New York City. Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Charley Pride, Trisha Yearwood, Bill Anderson and Ricky Skaggs perform during a taping of the "Grand Ole Opry" at Carnegie Hall November 14, 2005 in New York City.
Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks attend the opening of The Zone, a therapeutic play and education enviroment at Mount Sinai Hospital February 7, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Peter Kramer/Getty Images) Peter Kramer, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks attend the opening of The Zone, a therapeutic play and education enviroment at Mount Sinai Hospital February 7, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Peter Kramer/Getty Images)
Peter Kramer, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood and Idina Menzel appear on the NBC "Today" show during a family and friends farewell program for Co-Anchor Katie Couric May 31, 2006 in New York City. Bryan Bedder, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood and Idina Menzel appear on the NBC "Today" show during a family and friends farewell program for Co-Anchor Katie Couric May 31, 2006 in New York City.
Bryan Bedder, Getty Images

Reba McEntire (left) and Trisha Yearwood at the Country Music Television's CMT Giants honoring Reba McEntire at the Kodak Theatre on October 26, 2006 in Hollywood, California. Kevin Winter, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Reba McEntire (left) and Trisha Yearwood at the Country Music Television's CMT Giants honoring Reba McEntire at the Kodak Theatre on October 26, 2006 in Hollywood, California.
Kevin Winter, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks arrive at the 2007 MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Don Henley at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 9, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. Kevin Winter, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks arrive at the 2007 MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Don Henley at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 9, 2007 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Winter, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood (L) and her husband Garth Brooks listen to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter speak after raising the wall on the 1,000th and 1,001st homes to be built by Habitat for Humanity on the Gulf Coast May 21, 2007 in Violet, Louisiana. Chris Graythen, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood (L) and her husband Garth Brooks listen to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter speak after raising the wall on the 1,000th and 1,001st homes to be built by Habitat for Humanity on the Gulf Coast May 21, 2007 in Violet, Louisiana.
Chris Graythen, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood (2nd L) and Garth Brooks (R) perform at the Live Earth show at the National Museum of the American Indian on July 7, 2007 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Roger Kisby/Getty Images) Roger Kisby, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood (2nd L) and Garth Brooks (R) perform at the Live Earth show at the National Museum of the American Indian on July 7, 2007 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Roger Kisby/Getty Images)
Roger Kisby, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood with Nick Lachey prior to the running of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2008 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Nick Laham, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood with Nick Lachey prior to the running of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2008 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Nick Laham, Getty Images

10/23-24: GARTH BROOKS | The country superstar retired from performing in 2000 before returning in 2014. These shows are the singer's first Valley performances in 19 years. The singer's wife and fellow country-music artist Trisha Yearwood also will perform. DETAILS: 7 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 23-24. Talking Stick Resort Arena (formerly US Airways Center), Second and Jefferson streets, Phoenix. $59.08 (limit of eight tickets per purchase). ticketmaster.com. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

10/23-24: GARTH BROOKS | The country superstar retired from performing in 2000 before returning in 2014. These shows are the singer's first Valley performances in 19 years. The singer's wife and fellow country-music artist Trisha Yearwood also will perform. DETAILS: 7 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 23-24. Talking Stick Resort Arena (formerly US Airways Center), Second and Jefferson streets, Phoenix. $59.08 (limit of eight tickets per purchase). ticketmaster.com.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood performs onstage during CBS' "The Early Show" on June 12, 2008 at the CBS Studios Plaza in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images) Bryan Bedder, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood performs onstage during CBS' "The Early Show" on June 12, 2008 at the CBS Studios Plaza in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
Bryan Bedder, Getty Images

Singer Garth Brooks and his wife singer Trisha Yearwood stand on the sidelines during the Chelsea FC match against Club America in the World Football Challenge at Dallas Cowboys Stadium on July 26, 2009 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) Ronald Martinez, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Singer Garth Brooks and his wife singer Trisha Yearwood stand on the sidelines during the Chelsea FC match against Club America in the World Football Challenge at Dallas Cowboys Stadium on July 26, 2009 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Ronald Martinez, Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood, Garth Brooks and Dwight Yoakam attend the Songwriters Hall of Fame 42nd Annual Induction and Awards at The New York Marriott Marquis Hotel - Shubert Alley on June 16, 2011 in New York City. Larry Busacca

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood, Garth Brooks and Dwight Yoakam attend the Songwriters Hall of Fame 42nd Annual Induction and Awards at The New York Marriott Marquis Hotel - Shubert Alley on June 16, 2011 in New York City.
Larry Busacca

Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks perform during the Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert to benefit United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on July 6, 2013 in Norman, Oklahoma. To donate go to www.unitedwayokc.org or text REBUILD to 52000. Rick Diamond

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks perform during the Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert to benefit United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on July 6, 2013 in Norman, Oklahoma. To donate go to www.unitedwayokc.org or text REBUILD to 52000.
Rick Diamond

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood poses with Chip and Dale during the production of Disney Parks' Frozen Christmas Celebration at Sleeping Beauty Winter Castle at Disneyland on November 10, 2014 in Anaheim, California. Scott Brinegar/Disney Parks/Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood poses with Chip and Dale during the production of Disney Parks' Frozen Christmas Celebration at Sleeping Beauty Winter Castle at Disneyland on November 10, 2014 in Anaheim, California.
Scott Brinegar/Disney Parks/Getty Images

HOT: Trisha Yearwood attends the ASCAP Centennial Awards at Waldorf Astoria Hotel on November 17, 2014 in New York City. Brian Ach/Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

HOT: Trisha Yearwood attends the ASCAP Centennial Awards at Waldorf Astoria Hotel on November 17, 2014 in New York City.
Brian Ach/Getty Images

Music artists Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Phillip Sweet, and Kenny Chesney attend the 50th Academy Of Country Music Awards at AT&T Stadium on April 19, 2015, in Arlington, Texas. Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Music artists Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Phillip Sweet, and Kenny Chesney attend the 50th Academy Of Country Music Awards at AT&T Stadium on April 19, 2015, in Arlington, Texas.
Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Garth Brooks, left, and Trisha Yearwood arrive at the 50th annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Arlington, Texas on April 19, 2015. Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP Photo

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Garth Brooks, left, and Trisha Yearwood arrive at the 50th annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Arlington, Texas on April 19, 2015.
Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP Photo

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are Inducted Into The Nashville Walk Of Fame at the Nashville Music City Walk of Fame on September 10, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. Rick Diamond/Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are Inducted Into The Nashville Walk Of Fame at the Nashville Music City Walk of Fame on September 10, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Rick Diamond/Getty Images

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood speak after receiving stars on the Music City Walk of Fame on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn. Mark Humphrey/AP Photo

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood speak after receiving stars on the Music City Walk of Fame on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn.
Mark Humphrey/AP Photo

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Garth Brooks looks at a weather app, as a dust storm moves through Phoenix with Trisha Yearwood during a press conference on Oct. 16, 2015 at Phoenix Children's Hospital in Phoenix, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Garth Brooks looks at a weather app, as a dust storm moves through Phoenix with Trisha Yearwood during a press conference on Oct. 16, 2015 at Phoenix Children's Hospital in Phoenix, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks perform during The Country Music Hall of Fame 2015 Medallion Ceremony at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on October 25, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. Rick Diamond/Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks perform during The Country Music Hall of Fame 2015 Medallion Ceremony at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on October 25, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Rick Diamond/Getty Images

Justin Timberlake, ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board Paul Williams, and President Jimmy Carter present Trisha Yearwood (R) with the Voice of Music Award onstage during the 53rd annual ASCAP Country Music awards at the Omni Hotel on November 2, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Justin Timberlake, ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board Paul Williams, and President Jimmy Carter present Trisha Yearwood (R) with the Voice of Music Award onstage during the 53rd annual ASCAP Country Music awards at the Omni Hotel on November 2, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood attend The 2016 Medallion Ceremony at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on October 16, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Country Music H

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood attend The 2016 Medallion Ceremony at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on October 16, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Country Music H

Country singers Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood perform at the National Christmas Tree Lighting attended by the first family on the Ellipse December 1, 2016 in Washington, DC. This year is the 94th annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. Getty Images

Trisha Yearwood through the years

Country singers Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood perform at the National Christmas Tree Lighting attended by the first family on the Ellipse December 1, 2016 in Washington, DC. This year is the 94th annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.
Getty Images

When Trisha Yearwood came off a three-year world tour with Garth Brooks just in time for Christmas in 2017, the last thing she expected was to hear her husband say he'd like to get back on the road and do it all again – but in stadiums.

After all, that last tour was his first in 13 years.

"I thought he would maybe be like ‘OK, I’m gonna take a break. I don’t know if we’re gonna do this ever like this again,’" Yearwood says with a laugh. "And then, because he’s Garth, he’s like ‘We never really have done stadiums. What do you think?’"

It's been fun, she says, to watch as her husband approaches this stadium tour as though he’s never toured before.

What to expect on the Garth Brooks tour

He's come up with "a brand new stage, a brand new look, some different elements to make every show in every city different," Yearwood says. "So as his wife and as a fellow artist, it’s been really cool to see him take this on as ‘I want people that see this show to say, 'Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen that.'"

Another thing that's different about this tour is that Yearwood isn't on the bill, although she will be hosting Trisha's Tailgate in the parking lot before the show.

Back to 'Trisha business'

Trisha Yearwood(Photo: Russ Harrington)

"This is a Garth show," Yearwood says. "This past year I spent working on two new albums. I haven’t made new music in a while. So I said, ‘I would like to not be on the ticket.’ That doesn’t mean I won’t make an appearance at a show now and then. But I also have other Trisha business I need to do. So I’d like the freedom to do that."

Yearwood laughs and says, "I didn’t know at the time that I would end up in the parking lot, doing tailgates. I jokingly say, ‘Garth’s in the stadium and I’m in the parking lot.'"

It's not that she didn't love sharing the spotlight with her husband on that last tour.

"It really was a good experience," she says. "I’ve been making records since ’91, so I’ve done a lot of touring. And I thought my favorite place was these small intimate theaters. But the Garth tour is its own thing. I’ve never been to a more energetic show in my life. So I got the opportunity of coming out in the middle of his set into all that energy and my job was just to kind of hold my own out there and not bring the energy down for when he came back out. I learned a lot. I learned how to perform in an arena."

There was no question, she says, as to whether or not she'd be joining Brooks on tour, even after opting out of a spot on the ticket.

"When we got married, we said we don’t want to be together to be apart. So we really have tried for these 14 years to make sure we make our plans where we don’t have to spend very much time apart."

Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks perform during The Country Music Hall of Fame 2015 Medallion Ceremony at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on October 25, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee.(Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images)

What is Trisha's Tailgate?

Hosting a tailgate party is a natural for Yearwood.

"I’m a sports girl," she says. "So I know about tailgating for, you know, Georgia Bulldogs games. But when we did the world tour, we’d pull up for soundcheck and I’d notice that people were tailgating for the show. I guess I was late to the party on that. I didn’t realize that everybody was doing that."

She did her first Trisha's Tailgate before last year's one-off show at Notre Dame.

"And it went really well," she says. "So we decided to do this in every city. We have a tent set up and there’s gonna be seven or eight Trisha foods. There’s gonna be games and drinks. I’m gonna do a food demo. It’s just kind of a hangout for several hours before you can go in to see the stadium show."

At the Notre Dame tailgate, she says, "We did some macaroni and cheese, mini hot dogs, sliders, drinks. It’s not like a little appetizer thing where you’ll go into the stadium hungry. You’ll definitely have a chance to eat some real food before you go in."

Why Trisha Yearwood loves to cook

It's the sort of menu you'd expect if you've seen "Trisha's Southern Kitchen," a Food Network series that features Yearwood cooking Southern meals for her family and friends.

Trisha Yearwood didn't learn to cook until she went to college.(Photo: Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

"I’d love to say I had this planned, but honestly, it was a happy accident," Yearwood says of the show. "I wrote a cookbook with my mom and my sister for fun. I never dreamed that there would even be a second cookbook. But when we had a New York Times best-seller, the TV shows started calling. I actually thought, ‘I don’t know if it would be fun to stand behind a counter and tell people to add the butter' or whatever. But the Food Network was great about saying it can be whatever you want it to be. So we created this show that was a very off-the-cuff, not-scripted show that really was the book come to life. Telling the family story. Having my family, my sister and my best buddies on the show. We laugh a lot. And I think I represent most cooks because I’m not a chef. Most people cook like I do."

Yearwood's parents were amazing cooks, she says.

"So my sister and I growing up, our jobs were usually things like setting the table and cracking the ice cubes, because we didn’t have an ice maker."

It wasn't until she'd gone off to college that she learned to cook.

"I moved into an apartment," she says. "And I didn’t know how to make anything. So I called home and I think the first recipe my mother gave me is her potato salad, which is very Southern and has, like, four ingredients. When I made it and it tasted like hers, I thought 'Oh my gosh, I can do this.' I missed home, I missed my family and I was able to feed myself and my friends and also to create that feeling of comfort from home. There’s such a connection there."

The charitable side of Trisha and Garth

Country singers Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood perform at the National Christmas Tree Lighting attended by the first family on the Ellipse December 1, 2016 in Washington, DC.(Photo: Getty Images)

Her tailgate party is a benefit for Habitat for Humanity, which she and Brooks have been involved with for "probably 10 years now," she says.

"Garth and I started with Habitat a couple years after Katrina. We went to New Orleans and really we thought we were going to be celebrities that did a couple interviews and swung a hammer for a photograph. And we got hooked. I mean, that day, I learned how to frame a wall. I learned how to put a window in. I was like, ‘I want to do this.’ It’s wonderful to give money. And we do that. We also sign items for charity. There are great ways to give. But getting in and getting your hands dirty, working alongside the homeowners, because Habitat’s motto, which I love, is 'a hand up not a handout.' If you’re gonna live in this house, you put in sweat equity. If they can’t build for some reason, they work in the office, stuffing envelopes or whatever. They earn this home. So it’s pretty amazing to see."

Her new album is 'Let's Be Frank'

In February, she released a Frank Sinatra tribute album titled "Let's Be Frank."

"I’ve wanted to make a standards record for about 20 years," she says. "I grew up with my mom’s music, which was a lot of things but she really loved old movies and musicals, so I knew all these songs since I was a kid."

That desire to do a full album of standards became more focused on Sinatra songs a couple years ago.

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"The Grammys did a 100th birthday tribute to him," Yearwood says. "And Don Was was the musical director. He and I had worked together before and he said ‘Have you ever thought about making an album of these songs?' I was like, ‘Yes, I think about that all the time.’"

She assembled a list, Yearwood says, of about 100 songs.

"My criteria was if Frank recorded it, it was fair game," she says. "So there’s a mix of really well-known, almost written-for-Frank songs and other songs like 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' that you might associate more with Judy Garland but Frank recorded it. And it was a real joy to make. I worked on it at Capitol Records in L.A., where Frank recorded a lot of his music, with a 55-piece orchestra and got to sing on his microphone."

She's had live strings on records before, she says. "But I’ve never recorded live like that where you walk into the room and you’re another instrument. It’s never more pressure because it’s not like you can punch in if somebody makes a mistake. You have to start over. So I didn’t want to be the one person out of 56 who went, ‘Ugh, I didn’t come in right there. Can we start over again?’"

In addition to such classics as "Come Fly With Me," “Over the Rainbow," "Witchcraft" and “One For my Baby (And One More for the Road),” the album features one song Yearwood co-wrote with her husband.

Trisha Yearwood(Photo: Russ Harrington)

"I came home one day with this title and Garth started singing this melody that didn’t sound like him," she says. "It sounded like a throwback to something else. When we finished the song, this was probably a year before the record happened, we didn’t know what to do with it. So when this project came up, he encouraged me to play it for Don Was, who played it for the arranger, and they said, ‘We’re doing it.’ I never intended for there to be an original song on the record, and I’m certainly not saying that I think it deserves to be next to these iconic songs, but it was really an honor to have a song about my relationship on the record that when you play the record it doesn’t feel to me like it’s really out of place. It feels like it could’ve possibly been written during that time."

Recording with a 55-piece orchestra is just the latest chapter in a life she looks at as a fantasy come true.

"It’s almost like 'This is your job?! This is what you get to do for a living?!' Singing was something I wanted to do since I was five years old. So it never really does feel like work. I’ve had a real job where I had to punch a time clock. And what I get to do for a living is something I would do for free. I think you become even more appreciative the older you get because you realize that you’re really lucky to still be getting a chance to do it."

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.